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A few months ago, I read a newspaper article about the homeless situation in Somerset County.  It was while reading that article that I realized, for the first time, that Somerset has a homeless shelter.  The Next Step shelter isn’t the typical “cots in a gymnasium” shelter you see in the movies or on TV.  It’s a house converted into the shelter with a lot of hard work and very little reward. And, unlike the typical shelters, it isn’t just a “place to flop”, it’s a place for men, women and families to live while they try to get their lives back in order.

I called Next Step a few weeks ago, introduced myself and set up a meeting with the director - Therese.  Sharon and I went in to talk to her and it was a very enlightening experience.  It was also the beginning of my newest project - Invisible: The Face of Poverty in America.  Through the project, I want to tell the stories of people who are or have suffered through homelessness and poverty.  As I learned through meeting with Therese, most people who end up homeless, especially in “rural” areas like Somerset, aren’t drug addicts or schizophrenics or runaways or drunks.  They’re average people who had bad luck.  And sometimes, not even a tremendous amount of bad luck.

The average person who rents is 1 paycheck away from becoming homeless.  The average person who is paying a mortgage is 3 paychecks away from losing their home.  So a job loss, an injury or an illness can lead to a person’s whole life come crashing down around them.  Therese was one of those people.  She was in an abusive marriage and when she finally worked up the courage to leave, she had no where to go.  She ended up at Next Step about 3 years ago.  She stayed there for 1 month (to qualify for funding, the shelter can’t allow people to stat more than 30 days) and today she is the director.  She’s also in college and still works tirelessly to help others.

Yesterday I met with three men currently staying at the shelter.  Vincent’s hours at a local restaurant were cut back to the point where he couldn’t pay his rent.  He was going for an interview today for a new job and was hopeful.  He didn’t say it, but I’m sure it’s also hard being an African American in a town that is 97.8% white.  Alex, a Vietnam veteran, has been “homeless” for 12 years.  He gets around the country by hitchhiking and frequently sets up campsites in the forest.  He wanted to head to Florida for the winter because Western PA winters get so cold, but didn’t want to go just yet.  He wanted to see his sons over the holidays.  Otis, a retired laborer, lost his wife 11 years ago to cancer.  He’s a lifetime member of the local voluteer fire company and an avid hunter.  He lived off his social security but when the home he was living in was condemned, he ended up on the street.  He hopes to have a new apartment in a few weeks.

These people are homeless.  You might not see them sleeping under a bench or pushing a shopping cart filled with aluminum cans, but that doesn’t change anything.  People in rural areas see homelessness as a “city problem”, where “dirty people” live in cardboard boxes.  But bad luck doesn’t differentiate from the city and the country.  And as much as people like to think that small town values would prevent seeing “our neighbors” living out of cars - or worse, that just isn’t true.

I really look forward to telling their stories.  And I look forward to hearing your thoughts so leave me some comments.